Elimination game #2. The Hawks squirmed out a bit from under the Wings' boot, but the Wings can still eliminate them with a win at the Joe, which will be rockin'. Don't really want to go back to Chicago for game 7, so they need to bring more energy. And stay out of the damn box!

Growing up playing hockey in Illinois (where the state championship is the Blackhawk Cup) with a bunch of Blackhawk fans, sons of Hawks players and practically no Wings fans, there were like four of us '89's who were die hard Wings fans and for some reason this is the series that got us all talking again after about five years. Hoping for a win tonight so we can have some good times at the expense of all the guys predicting that the Wings "would be lucky to get to five" this series.

I think for the first 12 minutes or so of the game the hawks carried the play, so it's not surprising that the announcers were more positive about them. That being said, everyone (CBC and NBC sports) seems to treat them like they're just a cut above the rest, when I don't think that's necessarily the case. If the wings play like they did the last 5-7 minutes, the announcers will change their tune

but "one of those strange things" that too many men basically exists in mites and squirts and then disappears until you're playing with NHL caliber players. Logically it makes sense, but still odd thinking about it in those terms.

We've now got them where we want them. Got the lead and we are starting to play more physical. When Chicago tries to match our energy, penalties usually follow... Just need to keep playing with poise and intensity... Huge difference from the first period.

Holy fucking hell. If you didnt like that period of hockey you're dead. That might've been one of the most entertaining, well-played (both sides), hard-hitting, exciting 20 minutes of hockey i've ever seen.

I really hate conspiracy theories and don't really see why the league and/or its refs would be against the wings, but it really seems like we get the short end of the stick on most iffy calls. That has to be the weakest fucking penalty shot call I've ever seen. I'm just so pissed about this

This series reminds me of the Pistons-Magic in 2003. The Magic got out to a 3-1 lead before the superior Pistons blew them out of the water in the next three games. The Wings are getting manhandled by a better team. It's unusual to see that, but every franchise comes back down sooner or later.

Howard is the reason we are even talking about game 7. He's playing with a non playoff caliber defense in front of him. He's been phenomenal in this series. I hope the rest of the team comes to play a full sixty minutes on Wednesday.

Awesome comment. This is something I just realized myself. Lmao at the hawks and their wannabe franchise. I live in Chicago and their fans are by far the worst. Even more so than sparties and buckeyes.

I think it's probably the right call to not post when your team was getting worked the way the Hawks were after game 4, but to your point of "I don't even see any Hawks fans talking garbage" I mean look up, it's already happened lol........were you here in game 1 when every Hawks fan said the series was over, and that the Wings didn't even belong on the same ice.

I was here game one and did not say that so EVERY Hawks fan didnt say that. It's whatever, I don't see a need to argue with my fellow MGoBrothers over a hockey series, immature people will be immature. There have been some ignorant posts about Chicago by some wings fans and I've decided to keep quiet after game one. It's not worth arguing like children.

It's a 99% Wings board and I've tried to keep quiet for the most part. I think Hawks fans have been pretty respectful on the board during this series so I don't get the vitriol. Should be a great game 7 though, this is how these two teams should go it together.

Historically Chicago was a hockey town--not in terms of getting the results, say, Detroit had, but good fans who really supported the team. Bill Wirtz really killed the fan base, first by letting every big name player walk or get traded (I particularly remember Roenick and Chelios). The second step was the kicker--blacking out games that were not sold out. For many of my pre-college years when I really became a sports fan, Hawks games were just a box score of rotating names to me. I enjoy hockey but am not particularly knowledgeable--mostly because I had no chance to watch it.

Once old man Wirtz died and his son took over, things got better for the team in a big hurry. Very high draft picks were well spent, and the team developed its young players. Because there wasn't a several year lag between Rocky Wirtz taking over and the 2009 Western Conference Finals run, it was hard to distinguish between the normal bandwagon fans (and c'mon, as Michigan fans we have plenty of those under our tent) and those who were more like Michigan basketball fans who were alienated by the dark post-sanction years and are now fully back. Imagine how hard it would have been to be an out-of-state Michigan bball fan if one of the sanctions was no televised games!

So I know there is lots of vitriol right now for Blackhawks fans, and those of you who grew up in Michigan but live in Illinois are probably frustrated, but the fan base isn't as horribly bandwagon-y as it seems.

(And I realize that posting this in an open thread featuring some very unhappy wings fans is inviting a response)

After I graduated from UM in 95, I lived in San Fran for a year as I thought of going to grad school at either Cal or Stanford (top programs for my field of study). That didn't turn out and I eventually needed to get a real job to support myself. But in the meantime, I found multiple places to play inline hockey in SF neighborhoods as well as an indoor rink there, not far from Giants' stadium.

I ended up moving to Chicago as I had some contacts here and family still in Detroit area. I was pretty happy to be moving back to an Original Six city, thinking I'd get all kinda hockey action here. Well, turns out, if I talked to anyone about hockey here, they looked at me like I was from the moon. They don't give the least amount of fucks about it unless their team is in first place.

I've only found one place to play outdoor inline hockey here and that was from some random Craigslist post I found, and they only played at 10 in the morning on Sundays on the far north side of the city. You'll never find a group of people just playing in some neighborhood here. People don't play or care about the game in the city. I did end up playing at Johnny's Ice House for a few years when I had some friends from Detroit who played here.

I realize that old man Wirzt did plenty to hurt hockey in this city, but you are full of shit if you think the people here care the slightest about it when the Hawks are no good. It is the biggest bandwagon population in professional sports.

I have been in Chicago for less than a year, and I've been really frustrated at the lack of inline/street/pickup hockey. I used to play every day at Elbel before they put the stupid turf in, but haven't found anything close here. I did actually play ice in an outdoor league here this past winter, which was pretty fun.

I played at Elbel all the time while in school. Michigan hockey players were frequently playing with us over there.

If you know anybody who plays, let me know and maybe we can get something going.

To add to my post: up until about 6 years ago when the hawks got good, I used to go to every Wings/hawks game and there were 75% Wings fans there. With "Let's go Red Wings" chants drowning out the moronic "Detroit Sucks" chants the mouth breather "fans" are so pleased about. See, there's one difference, we actually cheer on our team rather than just denigrating the opposing team. That's the kinda thing that a Nashville fanbase does, i.e., know-nothing hockey fans.

I got a free ticket from a friend to a hawks/avs game about 10 years ago. Even though I hate both teams, I figured I'd go just to see a pro game. There couldn't have been more than 5000 people in attendence. It was disgraceful for an Original Six team. Tell me again how great that hawks fanbase is. What a joke.

Babcock made a great point after the game that this team shouldn't lose confidence from this tonight... While a loss is a loss, they didn't come in and squash us. They took what we gave them, and we need to take what they give us in game 7 on Wednesday.

I can't speak for all Blackhawks fans, but since this is a MICHIGAN board, populated by RED WINGS fans for the most part, I sometimes check in on the pulse of Wings fans, but mostly stay the hell away from NHL posts on here.

Why? For the same reason, I'd expect a Wings fan brought along to a bar in Chicago to stay quiet too. I'm not going to hide who I'm rooting for, but I'm not going to be that idiot going "YEA! TOLD YA LOSERS! WINGS SUCK!"

Just know that the city of Chicago has lots of Hawks fans slowly coming back after being driven off during the mid-90s, 2000s. And lots of has to do with the fact that anybody between the ages of 18-35 right now wasn't able to see Blackhawks games for 15 years on local television. That kind of puts a damper on building a fanbase.

So, yes, I'm extremely happy the Hawks won tonight. And, yes, I'm hoping they win in Game 7. Good luck to you guys as well.

This is the funniest thread ever. There were two Hawks fans on the entire thread, and that somehow constitutes a bandwagon and the entire fan base is being compared to msu and ohio while Wings fans want players and refs dead. A little perspective can go a long way.